Moderator

While Lucario has 3 very common attacking types as a weakness, it also has a plethora of resistances to use. Along with resistances to a fair number of different types, Lucario also boasts immunity to Toxic Spikes, which can greatly shorten of other Set Up Sweepers like it. Lucario also has a strong offensive STAB in its Fighting-type that can allow it to tear through many Pokemon.

While Lucario's defenses are nothing to write home about, coupled with its resistances Lucario can often find a way to switch in and use its marvelous offensive stats. Lucario's speed is not bad, but it is also not too great. While Lucario is able to outspeed a fair number of Pokemon, its lackluster defenses can often hurt it when opponent's switch in faster Pokemon. Luckily for Lucario, its offensive stats along with a couple well placed priority moves give it a fighting chance against Pokemon that outspeed it.

-------------Abilities
-------------Steadfast: When this Pokemon is flinched its Speed raises 1 stage.Inner Focus: This Pokemon cannot be flinched. This does not include flinching as a Focus Punch.Justice Heart [Dream World]: When this Pokemon is damaged by a Dark-type attack its Attack raises 1 stage.

Neither of its non-Dream World abilities are too stunning as not many Pokemon will try to flinch Lucario, so you can really choose either. While Steadfast may look appealing because of the possibility of raising Lucario's average speed, it will also cause Lucario to lose a valuable turn that could have been spent using Swords Dance or Nasty Plot. While Justice Heart does not grant a Dark-type immunity, Lucario's resistance to Dark allows it to switch into most Dark-type moves without taking too much damage and while still getting the Attack boost.

Lucario has several different options given its movepool and stat distribution. While Lucario does not has the biggest variety in terms of move typing, it does get good coverage with either special or physical attacks. On the physical side Lucario possesses STAB Close Combat to tear through teams and a powerful Crunch to help with coverage. Lucario also has Extremespeed or STAB Bullet Punch for priority that allows Lucario to deal with faster Pokemon. On the special side Lucario has STAB Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse to use as alternates to Close Combat and Crunch respectively. It also has a special priority move in its STAB Vacuum Wave. It also has 4 good set up moves, Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Cheer Up, and Agility to boost its already good offensive stats.

I can still see an agility set working, and cheer up has potential too.

Edit : His dreamworld ability can really come in handy, too; with all the new ghosts around tyranitar will be throwing crunches out left and right, so if you manage to get an attack boost from that and agility on the switch, that could be dangerous.

I could see a mixed Cheer Up set working. It would probably use something like Close Combat, Shadow Ball, and Extremespeed/HP Ice. I'm not sure it would really be any better than the two sets you posted, though. It's nice to see Lucario being able to use a pure Special set that's not Choice Specs as well. It might not end up being as good as the SD set but we'll have to see.

The real thing that could really help Lucario is Justice Heart. It was already able to switch in on Dark attacks with some prediction but now it will be able to get a +1 Atk boost as well. It's too bad that we probably won't be able to use it with Crunch and Agility.

I can still see an agility set working, and cheer up has potential too.

Edit : His dreamworld ability can really come in handy, too; with all the new ghosts around tyranitar will be throwing crunches out left and right, so if you manage to get an attack boost from that and agility on the switch, that could be dangerous.

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If a tyranitar comes in on a ghost pursuit is almost guaranteed to be the move he'll use to trap the ghost. So Lucario can't really come in to a pursuit since it'll already have done damage to the previous pokemon.

If a tyranitar comes in on a ghost pursuit is almost guaranteed to be the move he'll use to trap the ghost. So Lucario can't really come in to a pursuit since it'll already have done damage to the previous pokemon.

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I agree. This is also a perfect opportunity to add +2 to either of your attacking stats. I don't think Justice Heart makes too much difference in the end. Pursuit is the move that will be thrown around more, and Lucario won't be getting hit by many Dark attacks.

Now Lucario with Nasty Plot, Claw Sharpen and Cheer Up will be even more unpredictable, and with Justice Heart it is going to be a better counter of Dark type Pokémon, but IMO things like Heal Pulse and Fast Guard will not be too used with Lucario (because it is mainly offensive). With its new boosting moves and ability i´m sure that Lucario will be a even more threatening opponent in the B&W metagame than in DPP.

If it wasn't for Zoroark getting flamethrower, justice heart Luke would make a good switch into him.

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Actually, if Lucario switches in on a dark attack and gets the justice heart boost he can OHKO Zoroark with rocks up at the very least with a +1 Extremespeed. I ran a damage calc on an Absol with a +1 extremespeed who has similar stats but better HP and it came out as 92.6% - 109.2%, meaning that these figures would be even higher for Zoroark unless it runs some kind of bulky spread most of the time, which would be counter productive.

But what if he doesn't come in on a Dark attack, then he does much less damage with ExSpeed. This set pretty much requires him to get the attack boost to be effective. Something such as Vacuum Wave would be better for priority, but that would defeat the purpose of using Justice Heart.

Edit: Timid has the same problem as Modest (forgot to say that earlier), you would want either Hasty or Naive so that niether of your attacks are dropped.

But what if he doesn't come in on a Dark attack, then he does much less damage with ExSpeed. This set pretty much requires him to get the attack boost to be effective. Something such as Vacuum Wave would be better for priority, but that would defeat the purpose of using Justice Heart.

Edit: Timid has the same problem as Modest (forgot to say that earlier), you would want either Hasty or Naive so that niether of your attacks are dropped.

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Wow, I must have been asleep while posting that set >_<. You know what, how about I just make the CM set purely special and put Inner Focus>Justice Heart and Vaccum Wave>Espeed? Hasty/Naive lowers Lucario's already pitiful defense stats.

With the Rotom formes having lost their Ghost-typing, Lucario can now slaughter them with a boosted ExtremeSpeed or Close Combat. For instance, a +2 Adamant LO ExtremeSpeed does 86.36% - 102.07% on a 6 HP/0 Def Choice Scarf/Choice Specs Timid Rotom, a OHKO more than 92% of the time provided Stealth Rock is in play. Slower, more defensive Rotom sets are met with Close Combat for a swift OHKO.

Previously, thanks to Intimidate, Lucario couldn't OHKO Salamence with ExtremeSpeed, even after Stealth Rock. But now, If Lucario switches into a Choice Band/Choice Scarf Tyanitar's Crunch and gets its Justice Heart boost, it can OHKO 6 Hp/0 Def Salamence with a +2 LO ExtremeSpeed. The same goes for 6 HP/0 Def Gyarados as well (SR is need for both examples).

Checks for the SD set like Hippowdon and Scarf Heatran would be destroyed by a +2 LO Aura Sphere or Vacuum Wave, thanks to Nasty Plot. Vacuum Wave also handles Sazandora quite well.

Lucario is looking to be a fantastic Pokemon all around, much like it was in Gen. IV.

Cheer Up is outclassed by Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. +2 in one stat is way better than +1 in both, given Lucario's huge movepool. Calm Mind is just worthless given Lucario's frailty and access to Nasty Plot.